Unofficial Windows Stuff

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noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:25:00 +0000

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Free Design Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:13:00 +0000

Simple and free

Mauricio Duque has collected a list of 45 no cost design programs.

"Some of them are pretty decent alternatives, not only for those who are not willing to spend the big bucks, but also for those who need some specific tasks done, like resizing a batch of picture without needing to run the almighty Photoshop."

Snap2Objects.com

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Convert Graphic Styles

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:21:00 +0000

Straight forward

Often you will have pictures in one format and want to explore using it in a different manner.
Built into Office 2003/7/10 is a mini app called Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

1. Go to Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Tools > Microsoft Office Picture Manager
2. Browse to the images you want to convert and select them
3. Go to File > Export
4. Under Export with this file format, click the dropdown and select one of the formats (TIFF, PNG, JPG, BMP. . .)

Converting WMF's

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Temp Files

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:41:00 +0000

Where they live and breathe

Ed Bott discusses temp files; care, feeding, and cleaning.

EdBott.com

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Onscreen Keyboard

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:26:00 +0000

Tap or Click?

If you would like to have a keyboard on your screen that can be activated with your mouse you're in luck

Type osk in Start Run

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Context Clutter

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:18:00 +0000

Registry mop

When you Right-click the desktop, a “Context” menu appears. Some programs like to sneak in and add shortcuts to their very important applications.
If your context menu has been cluttered up, here are some instructions and tips to clean it up.

HowToGeek.com

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Clean PC

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:19:00 +0000

Wash and dry

"Your computer could fry if you don't keep it clean," says Jonathon Millman, chief technology officer for Hooplah Interactive.
Dust clogs the vents behind your computer, which causes your CPU to heat up—and heat is the biggest cause of component failure in computers. Regular cleaning could save you costly maintenance fees down the road.

Here are some suggestions for Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall cleaning:
Microsoft.com/athome

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Name That File

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:41:00 +0000

Rules, more rules

There are still some restrictions on what a file can be named. Here are a couple of links that give more details:

VLaurie.com

MSDN.Microsoft.com

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TaskManager Look

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 11:49:00 +0000

You control

"If you want to leave your Task Manager showing on your desktop for a period of time, it can be nice to hide the title bar and gain that space for displaying more information. To do this, simply double-click on the empty area to the right of the tabs. Once it has switched views, you can switch back quickly by double-clicking anywhere on the border."

Downloadsquad.com

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Print Spool Cleaning

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:42:00 +0000

When all else fails

When you can't get a document out of the Print queue, here's a suggestion:

Type "services.msc" at the Command prompt. That will open the Services
Window.

Scroll down the alphabetical list in the right window pane until you come
to "Print Spooler"

Right-click this entry, then select "stop".

Open Windows Explorer.

The usual path to the spool folder is:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Spool\PRINTERS

Delete every file within this folder to empty the print queue

Close the explorer window.
Return to your Services window.
Right-click the Print Spool entry and select
"Start" from the list. Close the services window and try printing again.

(You can also go to a command prompt and type net stop spooler or net start spooler to start and stop the service.)

See TopFreeStuff.com

For the brave, here’s a macro that will do the job:

@echo off
echo.
echo Purging the print queue . . .
net stop Spooler
echo Deleting all print jobs . . .
ping localhost -n 4 > nul
del /q %SystemRoot%\system32\spool\printers\*.*
net start Spooler
echo Done!
ping localhost -n 4 > nul

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Hosts File

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:13:00 +0000

I've got your number

"...the Hosts file is like an address book. When you type an address like www.yahoo.com into your browser, the Hosts file is consulted to see if you have the IP address, or "telephone number," for that site. If you do, then your computer will "call it" and the site will open. If not, your computer will ask your ISP's (internet service provider) computer for the phone number before it can "call" that site.
Most of the time, you do not have addresses in your "address book," because you have not put any there. Therefore, most of the time your computer asks for the IP address from your ISP to find sites."

What is a Hosts file?

MVPS.org has a Hosts file that you can download and install. It includes a BAT file that renames the old file before it saves the new one.
Hosts

"Important Notice - 2K/XP Users

In most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98 and Windows ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"
Start>Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client",
Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply/OK and restart.

BTW
If you want to see Google AdSense entries, you may want to edit the MVP list. One of the entries is:
127.0.0.1 adwords.google.com #[Gmail ads]
Plus other Google entries.

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Time It Right

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:52:00 +0000

No need to wind your PC

Windows will go out to the Internet to verify or correct its time settings.

"If you wish to check your synchronization settings, look for the clock at the bottom right and double click on the time to bring up your time settings.
You can adjust your local time and date by hand on the first tab,
you can adjust your time zone location on the second,
and on the third, labeled Internet Time, you can view your current atomic clock sync settings."

Worldtimeserver.com:
Atomic Clock Sync Settings

National Institute of Standards and Technology:
Time and Frequency Division

NIST time servers

Time signals can also be heard on shortwave radio or by phone.

"The audio portions of the WWV and WWVH broadcasts can also be heard by telephone.
The time announcements are normally delayed by less than 30 ms when using land lines from within the continental United States, and the stability (delay variation) is generally 1 ms.
When mobile phones are used, the delays are often more than 100 ms due to the multiple access methods used to share cell channels.
In rare instances when the telephone connection is made by satellite, the time is delayed by 250 to 500 ms.
To hear these broadcasts, dial (303) 499-7111 for WWV (Colorado), and (808) 335-4363 for WWVH (Hawaii). Callers are disconnected after 2 minutes. These are not toll-free numbers; callers outside the local calling area are charged for the call at regular long-distance rates.

The telephone service is very popular. The WWV number receives over 1 million calls per year, and the WWVH number receives more than 50,000."

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No Home in IE

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:40:00 +0000

Blanked out

You can open Internet Explorer to a blank page.

Sometimes your normal home page may be too busy, or slow to load when you just want to pop out to a different location.

This trick will give you a blank slate to paste in a new URL.

Create a new Desktop shortcut
(Right click an empty spot on the desktop and choose New>Shortcut)
Copy the following, and paste it as the target for the shortcut:
```
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" nohome
```
Name the shortcut something like Blank IE

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Give Yourself a Tip

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:28:00 +0000

Take your own advise

If you still have Windows set up so that it shows a tip when you first sign in, you can add your own message, or change the ones the developers created.

Go to start>Run and type in Regedit

Find:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Tips]

Create a new string value named by incrementing the existing value names and set it to the required tip text.
The Data Type is REG_SZ (String Value)
The Value Data: Your tip

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Change Insert Picture Target

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:14:00 +0000

File location

If you would like to specify the folder Word will default to when you go to Inset>Picture:

From the Tools menu, click Options.
Select the File Locations tab.
Select ClipArt Pictures from the File Types list.
Click the Modify button.
Navigate to the folder you want Word to default to.
Click OK. OK.

In 2007-10, you'll find the entry by

Click on the Office logo
Go to Word Options>Advanced
Scroll down to General
Click the File Locations button

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Files do have Extensions

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:29:00 +0000

Smarten your machine

For some reason, the powers that be thought that the general public was going to be confused by those suffixes at the end of file names.

To help us all out, they hid extensions by default.

I like to see .Doc (or .Docx). Here's how to get that information back

Open Windows Explorer
Go to Tools>Folder Options.
In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab
Clear the checkbox to the left of the Hide extensions for known file types option
Click OK to close the dialog box and return to Windows Explorer

Also see EdBott.com:
Show or hide file name extensions

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Hidden Macro Names and Shortcuts

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:49:00 +0000

Revealed

Word has built in macros to perform routine actions such as using the Format Painter to copy formatting.

Rather than trying to guess the name or look up the shortcut keys, use this seldom mentioned trick to find toolbar macro names.

Press the three key combination of Ctrl, Alt, and + (the plus sign on the Numbers keypad).

The mouse pointer changes to a 4-leaf clover.

Click on a toolbar icon. Word will display a form revealing the macro name and the assigned shortcuts.

(It works the same way in 2007-10)

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Remote Access

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:22:00 +0000

Distance Computing

"There are lots of reasons why you'd want to access your PC remotely, and luckily there are also plenty of ways to do so. Crossloop is one of the simplest (it’s also free), but for those willing to venture further, you've got lots of options.

Excuse us while we get technical for a second. This list is divided into four main sections: VNC (Virtual Network Computing), NX, remote desktop and cross-protocol. If those terms mean nothing to you, you might want to skip to the 'other' section for the most straightforward applications."

Mashable.com

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Wipe it Clean

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:50:00 +0000

Works, but dangerous

"Cipher.exe is a command-line tool. Microsoft has developed an improved version of the Cipher.exe tool that provides the ability to permanently overwrite (or "wipe") all of the deleted data on a hard disk.
This feature improves security by ensuring that even an attacker who gained complete physical control of a Windows computer would be unable to recover previously-deleted data."

Support.microsoft.com:
Cipher.exe Security Tool

Using cipher.exe

File Shredder

Permanently delete data from your hard drive

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Unicode is Big

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:25:00 +0000

More symbols and letters

This free download lets you see and select more characters in the Unicode set. The Unicode Character Grid shows all assigned characters and private use characters in Unicode 5.2.

Here's a blog covering Scripts, Unicode, Character Encoding and BabelStone Stuff
BableStone Blog

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Online Crash Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:01:00 +0000

May you never need it

Windows Memory Diagnostic

The Windows Memory Diagnostic tests the Random Access Memory (RAM) on your computer for errors. The diagnostic includes a comprehensive set of memory tests. If you are experiencing problems while running Windows, you can use the diagnostic to determine whether the problems are caused by failing hardware, such as RAM or the memory system of your motherboard.

Windows Memory Diagnostic is designed to be easy and fast. On most configurations, you can download the diagnostic, read the documentation, run the test and complete the first test pass in less than 30 minutes.

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Thumbnail Sizing

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:34:00 +0000

Just right

You can change the size of your thumbnails by adding a new value to the registry. The range is between 32 and 256. Pick one that fits your prescription.

Click Start and click Run.
Type regedit and click OK.

Locate the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer.

From the Edit menu, point to New, and click DWORD Value.
Type in ThumbnailSize and press Enter.
Double click the new value. Enter in a hexadecimal value between 32 and 256.
Close the registry editor.

This tip was brought up by Lockergnome.com:
Change The Size Of Your Thumbnails

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Start Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:20:00 +0000

Change your Welcome avatar

Windows allows you to choose the picture that is displayed on the logon screen and the Start Menu.

It is absurdly easy to change the picture.

Just double click the picture that appears on the menu (as opposed to the Classic menu) and follow the prompts to Browse to the location of the graphic you want to show.

Ed Bott:

Change your picture on the Welcome screen and Start menu

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Print Folder Listing

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:28:00 +0000

Get an inventory

Microsoft left out some useful features that you can add back in.
Here's one that might be handy.

This article describes how to add the Print Directory feature for folders in Microsoft Windows XP and Vista. After you follow the steps that are listed in this article, you can right-click a folder, and then click Print Directory Listing to print a directory listing of the contents of a folder.

Support.microsoft.com:
How to add the Print Directory feature for folders

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Self Help

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Klippert) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:08:00 +0000

Get started in the right direction

The Office of Technology Services of Towson University, located in Towson, Md., provides Self-Help Training Documents for many applications.

They are available for many levels of knowledge. They’re clean, clear, and concise.

Access
Adobe Acrobat
Dreamweaver
Excel
FrontPage
Microsoft Office Tools
Outlook
Outlook Web Access
PowerPoint
Publisher
Visio
Windows
Word Art
Word

Tech Docs

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